Runaway Safina shows no signs of slowing down

By Pritha Sarkar

PARIS (Reuters) - Dinara Safina's headlong charge towards a maiden French Open title showed no sign of running out of steam when she charged into the quarter-finals on Sunday.

The Russian top seed flattened Aravane Rezai 6-1 6-0 to continue her ruthless streak at this year's championships.

Former world number one Justine Henin urged the Russian to stamp her mark on the sport and Safina appears to taken the message to heart, dropping only five games in four rounds at the claycourt major.

"I don't waste my energy. I want to win every point," said the 23-year-old, who has bagged four of the eight sets she has contested to love.

"I'm just surprised that it's really like five games that I lost before getting into the quarters. It's not a bad feeling, and I hope if I continue like this I can go a long way."

Safina's win set the stage for a juicy quarter-final with champion Ana Ivanovic provided the Serb is able to steer past Victoria Azarenka later on Sunday.

Slovak Dominika Cibulkova made it through to the last eight of a grand slam for the first time when she outwitted Hungarian Agnes Szavay 6-2 6-4.

The 20th seed sealed victory over Venus Williams's conqueror with a sweetly struck forehand down the line after a long rally.